Inadequate coverage is a persistent problem in the quality of service of any wireless network. Natural and man-made obstacles frequently create radio frequency (RF) “holes” in the coverage area of a wireless network. As a result, voice and data call connections are often dropped when a wireless terminal, such as a cell phone or a similar mobile station, enters an RF hole. Mobile stations that are already in an RF hole may not be able to reliably establish new connections. Typical areas in which RF holes occur include homes, apartments, underground tunnels and office buildings.
Wireless communication networks complemented by small base transceiver stations (BTSs) located to provide coverage in RF holes can frequently result in coverage issues, such as interference resulting from neighboring devices even when such devices are configured to detect each other and adapt overall or directional transmit power accordingly. For instance, a pair of small office or home office (SOHO) base transceiver stations (BTSs) in adjacent buildings may not detect each other due to outside wall penetration losses. A mobile or “subscriber” unit between or inside one of the two buildings, however, may detect both, due to differences in distance, differences in interior versus exterior wall penetration losses, or both. This interference scenario is sometimes referred to as the “hidden node problem.”
There is, therefore, a need in the art for automatically configuring wireless devices to avoid introducing significant interference outside the intended coverage area.